High Time

Mia on her play mat - so close to a social smile yet so stubbornly far away.





First, allow me to apologize. To what use is a blog when its writer never blogs on it? That's right friends, none. I haven't blogged since March. Sure we've been busy since then - bought a house, brought a baby home, graduation plans, restoring the rental house back to its original condition, etc. But there is no excuse for me to use explaining why I haven't taken a half hour here and there to write a little.

So let's begin with Mia, of course. We brought her home on April 23rd. It was a day worthy of celebration, but we were so tired from the previous night and day that not much was done. When we roomed in with her at the hospital, we were adding food to her bag every two hours, I was on call with a pager that went off every hour, and we were trying to sleep on chair beds. It just wasn't working out. The next day, we met with her various therapists (speech, occupational, physical) to learn activities to work with her on. She had a few physical exams done, discharge stuff really. Dietitians came to talk with us. The nurses who frequented her bedside came to say goodbye. I had to run out to get a second car seat which better fit her - not sure to this day why the first one didn't as it was a convertible "infant" seat. And then - we took her home.

What an adjustment. Suddenly her food, her meds, her daily needs were all in our hands. Her meds were easy enough - four of them, just stick them in her G-tube and be done with it. Her therapies are also pretty easy, but she hates them for the most part. Her feeds were different. We were told that since she has thickener in her formula, we could only mix two hours at a time otherwise it would sit and turn to concrete and the pump wouldn't be able to handle it. After a few nights of being up every couple hours at home even, we decided that just would not do. See, she's on a feeding schedule that says five hours on the pump, one hour off, then repeat. She's essentially on the pump 20 hours a day, and off four. We decided to see what happened if we extended her amount to three, and five hours worth of food in the bag. The pump did fine, for the most part. After a few alterations in how we mixed the formula and thickening agent, we got it down. Now, we successfully fill the bag with five hours of food without any clumps and no turning into concrete - that last condition was a myth, I think. It surely was a matter of her food not getting mixed up well enough while at the hospital. I'm not doubting the nurses' abilities, just that with enough times doing it, we got the perfect order and method down.

Other than that, she's only had to go to ACH for a follow up general discharge appointment, ophthalmology appointment (she has no remaining retinopathy - good thing!), another dilation (Rachel wrote about that experience here), and a high risk newborn clinic appointment. A home health service comes by once a week to assess her growth and overall well being since she was a preemie, but that will likely stop after next week. She is adjusting well, I think. She is starting to realize that we are in fact her parents and the ones who are here to comfort her and take care of her every need. She is still a relatively fussy baby, though. It's hard to now if that's just how she is, or if it is related to being in the NICU away from home for so long. She showed signs from day one of having a low-threshold temper, so who knows? I'm sure there is a component of both views.

To the house. We have closed on it, or Rachel did anyway. After all the numbers were crunched and all the lenders called, it was decided it was best to leave my name off the mortgage and loan application. But since we are married, there is an inherent interest in the property held in my name. And, the closing costs were essentially paid by the government, and the monthly payment will be paid by me. Does any of that matter, though? No. It will still be her house to decorate. That's OK, because I am going to redo the kitchen. I need to master my remodeling skills somehow. Of course, there will still be the heavy weight of her input to consider. I think I will enjoy every minute of it nonetheless. Now all I need is tools. We don't move until the second week of June. Gives us plenty of time to pack, paint, and relax. I only have one bedroom left to paint, Mia's, and patchwork painting to do in the living room and kitchen. Luckily, our landlord is happy with the color in the living room and kitchen, so I don't have to paint all that back to white. Every single other room, however, required a layer of primer followed by paint. Even at back to white, it looks far better than when we moved in, simply because it's a fresh coat of paint, which wasn't done back then.

And then, graduation. What a big year for them. My little sister graduates from high school this month. My brother graduates from college this Friday and will continue with classes towards his CPA in a year or so. I am graduating from medical school with convocation on Friday and commencement on Saturday. Convocation is what matters - it's privy just to our fellow students, as opposed to commencement when the entire class of 2009 between the colleges of medicine and pharmacy, nursing students, graduate students, etc. walk across the stage for a piece of paper. At convocation, we get hooded, get our special awards, etc. Unfortunately, my parents can't make it to convocation, but all in good reason as it's my brother's graduation day. Wish him well. I have filled out most of my contractual paper work. The only remaining things are an ACLS card, a couple official things, and insurance paperwork. Finally, Rachel will have insurance! I start doing residency related things in the last couple weeks of June.

Well, that's all for now. Time to relax some more. The real relaxation will come with our trip to a cabin in Eureka Springs in a couple weeks. A week, hidden away, no doctor appointments, no work related duties - just family and quiet time. Oh wait, this is the Minyard family - scratch the quite time. ;)